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City News

Posted on: September 13, 2018

City Celebrates Welcoming Week

For the second year in a row, the City of Portland will proudly celebrate Welcoming Week by hosting a series of interactive events beginning September 14th to recognize immigrant contributions to our community. Welcoming Week demonstrates that in places large and small, rural and urban, people of all backgrounds are coming together to create stronger, more prosperous communities.

As part of Welcoming Week, the City is offering programs for its staff including a lunch-and-learn, Demystifying Islam, led by Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants and and its second annual multicultural potluck, during which City staff are invited to prepare and share a culturally-significant meal. The rotunda and second floor of City Hall will also display artwork demonstrating the City’s commitment to being welcoming to all.

The public is invited to join us at a naturalization ceremony on Friday, September 21st at 10 AM on the front steps of City Hall, during which individuals take the Oath of Allegiance and complete the process of becoming a U.S. citizen.

“Welcoming Week is an opportunity to celebrate the values that unite us as neighbors, parents, and colleagues, and to make our great City even more welcoming to newcomers and to everyone who calls our community home,” said Mandy Levine, the City of Portland’s Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Specialist. “The City is committed to not only diversifying its workforce so that it better reflects the City’s population, but also to creating and maintaining an inclusive work culture where employees of all backgrounds and perspectives feel welcome, respected, and connected.”

“Welcoming Week is an exciting opportunity to celebrate, among others around the country, that Portland is a global city; a city of neighbors where all individuals, from all backgrounds, races, ethnicities and countries of origins are welcome, celebrated and valued,” said Julia Trujillo Luengo, Director of the City’s Office of Economic Opportunity. “As our city becomes more diverse, it also becomes more vibrant. Please join us to learn of one another during this exciting celebration!”

Welcoming Week is an annual celebration bringing together thousands of people and hundreds of local events that builds unity between the contributions of immigrants and refugees and the role long term residents play to foster greater welcome. Welcoming Week is Sept. 14-23 across the country and is expanding to other parts of the world.

Welcoming America is leading a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by making everyone who lives there know they belong. Welcoming America believes that all people, including immigrants, are valued contributors and vital to the success of both our communities and our shared future. welcomingamerica.org.